This chapter is from the book

Blend the Image

The next step in creating the poster is to blend our bass player smoothly from the photo to the black area. You have a few ways to do this, but let’s use a nondestructive method. When erasing parts of an image, the nondestructive method is to use a mask. You create a mask on a layer, and then paint black on the mask to hide the layer contents or paint white to reveal the contents.

Create a Layer Mask

ACA Objective 3.6

Let’s create a mask on the layer containing your image so that you can fade the image into the black area. Then you’ll add some text to the document.

Video 4.11

Layer Masks

Click the layer on which you want to add a mask. In this case, click the layer with the bass player.

A mask displays as a thumbnail to the right of the image thumbnail in the Layers panel.

Because there was no active selection, the mask is initially all white, thereby revealing the entire layer. If a selection is active when you create a mask, the new mask will reveal only the active selection.

Fade the Image Using a Mask

ACA Objective 3.6

ACA Objective 4.5

Now you will fade out the image using the mask. For this task, you will create a gradient on the mask that goes from black to white. As the gradient moves from black to white, the image will move from hidden to visible.

Video 4.12

Gradients to Blend with Masks

Gradients in Photoshop can be fairly complex, but let’s start with a simple preset gradient.

Select the Gradient tool .

Click the layer mask thumbnail to activate the mask.

When the layer mask is active, white corners display around the thumbnail of the mask, but not the layer (Figure 4.13).